Q-TEC 550 Watt : love'em or hate'em

[Frosty]

As a couple of you may know ive been hunting for a beefy radeon lately, 9700pr/9800pro to replace my loyal but weak Gf4mx440...but with them comes beefy power consumption...and i pressume that the need for a beffy PSU to power my 2.2xp,DVd,Cd-rw,512ram,2 HD's and soon to be beefy GPU is important.

Where ever i go i hear the cries of Antec and Enermax where PSU's are concerned, these both seem to be the market leaders in PSU's, as with all market leaders with a good reputation they have high prices

I noticed this little fella:

"QTEC 550 Watt PSU P4 ready Twin Fan Retail Boxed" on ebuyer fot £25

Is this a fake with just 550 for packaging or the real thing (i understand most psu's cannot actually stay at their peak of 450/550 as displayed on the box for an amount of time)

I also see contradictory reviews of this.. some singing its praises some daming it to hell.....

for example

"The 550w is delivered from the fact that it can peak at a certain amper. However this PSU can only sustain 409w!
O/P - peak - max
3.3V - 30A - 20A = 3.3x20=66W
5V - 40A - 35A = 5x35=175W
12V - 20A - 14A = 12x14=168W
In total this PSU can sustain a maximum of 409W.
If someone presumes this PSU can output a constant of 550W and builds a system to output this amount of power, prepare for the fire brigade!
However for systems that just require a smoothly running PSU without heavy power consumption this will suit"

opinions and experiences on this thingy??

Tah Adam.R

(on seriously tight budget considering i need 2 get card also)

PS: also heard good things bout sparkle which are good and a bit cheaper than antec etc

[Steve]

Never had one, but I've not heard good things about them.

Antec provide the best power - at least that's the general consensus. I run an Enermax - they're a little weak on the 5V but good otherwise.

[Agent]

There was a thread on this not too long back, ill try and dig it out.
It seemed like some were fine, some had serious problems. Ill let the people who have had no issues come and have their say, i just want to get mind in first.

These things are crap. Really really crap. Do NOT waste your money. They are NOT 550 watt. They can sustain that for something stupid like 1/10th of a second.
Ive had 1 go up in smoke, and one just die taking out the motherboard.
There is quite a few reviews on ebuyer for them, but take a closer read of them and you'll see maybe 1 in 10 knows what they are talking about. It only has 14A on the +12v line, so once you start banging a few higher quality / faster components in there it will start to struggle.

Q-tec "550" watt = £20.10
Antec True power = £99.42

The prices should speak for them-selfs !

[MD]

I actually have one, but to be honest, I am going to replace it as soon as I come into funds (the 9800XT just wiped me out big stylee lol) main reason for replacement is that mine has a wierd rattle, quite annoying at times, at least it stops after about 15 seconds of boot.

Its powered my kit amicably, but the ThermalTake Butterfly has my eye right now, 560W of power muhahah

Just gotta find one at a good price now lol

m@

[Frosty]

see, see seee!!! this is what keeps happening!!!!! 1 bad review (Agent) one okish review (mattz) ,thx for both reply. Matt do u think your comp has every crashed because the psu couldn't supply enough power??

Tah

[Agent]

Guys, PLEASE listen : PSU's
Q-Tec 550w PSU Poll

[MD]

Frosty, definitely not, I had an AMD system before this with a Chieftec PSU and that motha used to crash twice a day, and it turned out to be the power supply, this one is rock solid, I think its froze on me one in two years, and that was my fault....

m@

[bertie]

I have been running one since last october ish and my system is 100% stable and quieter than previous PSU - I got it as I thought my 9800 needed more power.

By the way my system has 1 DVDR, 5 HDs 9800 pro, fans etc

[Lemming]

I have a few, one is paired with an antec 400 running my dual MP machine, lots of SCSI and full IDE use but only a GF4. However it has been faultless and I only reboot every month or two. The other 550w runs my P4 server, again with all IDE used and 2 raid setups (8 devices in total), voltages spot on and again a reboot every few months.

I suspect it can be hit or miss, but if you're on a tight budget then I havent found better for such a small cost.

[Frosty]

HMM well those links Agent posted would put the fear of god into any1 considering buying a qtec......considering i noticed this CWT brand thm seem to be an alternative and have alot better reputation for a few quid more....whow! scan have them on special offer


This any good

450W CWT + SATA Quiet Dual Fan AMD/P4 App Active Fan Control Active PFC

Ps: Thx 4 replies guys, really appreciated

[directhex]

i run a modded qtec550, no problems at all & fairly good voltages supplied

[Russ]

yes frosty, that is a bloody good psu, i have 1, worth every pan ur paying to scan

[Frosty]

Well Gentlemen i just purchased a:

450W CWT + SATA Quiet Dual Fan from Scan for £40inc p&p

Lets hope all goes well , and once again thx for all your help

Adam

[Bobbyboy UK]

Im using one no problems at all, if you do a search for e buyer value 550 watt one, its t £13.81. Exactly same as the q tec

[unrealrocks]

550Watt QTecs are noisy, and cheap - theres a reason!

One of these suckers took out my MSI K7N2G-ILSR back in the summer, remember how expensive those boards we're

[Spud1]

ive had a few q-tech psus, and for the most part they have been pretty good. the only problem i have with them is excessive noise :/ so i have a nice quiet lexicom